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Possum Living: How to Live Well Without a Job and With (Almost) No Money
In the late seventies, at the age of eighteen and with a seventh-grade education, Dolly Freed wrote Possum Living about the five years she and her father lived off the land on a half-acre lot outside of Philadelphia. At the time of its publication in 1978, Possum Living became an instant classic, known for its plucky narration and no-nonsense practical advice on how to quit the rat race and live frugally. In her delightful, straightforward, and irreverent style, Freed guides readers on how to buy and maintain a home, dress well, cope with the law, stay healthy, save money, and be lazy, proud, miserly, and honest, all while enjoying leisure and keeping up a middle-class façade.
Thirty years later, Freed's philosophy is world-renowned and Possum Living remains as fascinating, inspirational, and pertinent as it was upon its original publication. This updated edition includes new reflections, insights, and life lessons from an older and wiser Dolly Freed, whose knowledge of how to live like a possum has given her financial security and the confidence to try new ventures.
Thirty years later, Freed's philosophy is world-renowned and Possum Living remains as fascinating, inspirational, and pertinent as it was upon its original publication. This updated edition includes new reflections, insights, and life lessons from an older and wiser Dolly Freed, whose knowledge of how to live like a possum has given her financial security and the confidence to try new ventures.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
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August 31, 2011
This book, we learn, was written by an 18-year old with a 7th grade education. For such a narrow life view, she seems to think she has a whole lot figured out. I must say, I found some creepy undertones in her almost cult-like devotion to "Daddy," who taught her to admire Diogenes as he did: a Greek philosopher, Diogenes felt even back then that objects own us rather than the reverse, and thus tried to own as little as possible. While this could be called admirable, Dolly (a pseudonym) and her father take it further to spending as little as possible. This, too, could be called admirable - but not when taken to the extremes Dolly and her father take it, nor when using the means advocated herein. Don't like paying taxes? Lie and say you don't actually live there, you just rent! Oh, but don't feel guilty about using tax-funded establishments like the library. Have a grudge? Why get a lawyer involved when you can instead get your way by stalking and harassing your offender? Feel free to use such means as cutting telephone wires, slashing tires, throwing bricks into windows, or poisoning his/her dog - but make SURE that you are in the right first. Yes, really. Dolly complains about crunchy granola types giving "possum living" (her term for thriving on little or nothing with disregard for society's rules - and sometimes laws) a bad name without appearing to realize that people like her and her beloved Daddy are, in fact, the types who give possum living a bad name.
Dolly makes no secret that she and Daddy live without regular work mainly because they are lazy and don't like working. Hey, I'm lazy too, and sure, sometimes I am dissatisfied with the notion of 9-to-5ing it. But my laziness does not expand to Dolly and Daddy's extremes of disregarding ashes and nut shells on the floor, just throwing them there rather than, you know, throwing them out (or composting even - Dolly does profess to be a great gardener). Dolly proudly calls herself miserly. Hey, I can be cheap too. But to save money in the winter, I wouldn't close off the entire upstairs rather than heating it, bringing my mattress into the living room.
This all said, not all is "crazy," though some is more extreme than others might care for; in addition to my gripes in the above paragraph, there are almost disarmingly detailed instructions how to crack a turtle's shell for meat or how to properly skin and butcher a rabbit you raised yourself. It is a quick read - made even quicker by my skipping most of the chapter on grains (being gluten intolerant, learning about cracking my own wheat is not so helpful to me).
Most importantly, I felt, is an epilogue included by Dolly in 2009 - now older, wiser, and less of a "possum" than she was when this book was originally published in the 70s. She repeatedly denounces her previous advocacy of harassment/illegal behavior to get what one wants, citing her father's negative influence (turns out Daddy was an alcoholic who, when drunk was paranoid and aggressive, eventually leading to Dolly's estrangement from the father whom she once professed she would never leave). Dolly, once believing Daddy could do no harm, eventually came to see how his bully tactics affected others and didn't jive with her desire to be a good neighbor (he "protested" a company buying and developing nearby land by burning down the houses three times during mid-build). Once disliking the idea of formalized education, Dolly got her GED, studied for and took her SATs - and went on to work for NASA before eventually settling into the role of environmental educator. While she says she thinks most of what she wrote still rings true today, she contradicts herself by listing all the things she doesn't think she could do again unless she absolutely HAD to. Although a book by Dolly as she exits today couldn't properly be called possum living, I would be much more interested to read a book written by her now rather than as a "cocky 18-year old" (her words, not mine).
Dolly makes no secret that she and Daddy live without regular work mainly because they are lazy and don't like working. Hey, I'm lazy too, and sure, sometimes I am dissatisfied with the notion of 9-to-5ing it. But my laziness does not expand to Dolly and Daddy's extremes of disregarding ashes and nut shells on the floor, just throwing them there rather than, you know, throwing them out (or composting even - Dolly does profess to be a great gardener). Dolly proudly calls herself miserly. Hey, I can be cheap too. But to save money in the winter, I wouldn't close off the entire upstairs rather than heating it, bringing my mattress into the living room.
This all said, not all is "crazy," though some is more extreme than others might care for; in addition to my gripes in the above paragraph, there are almost disarmingly detailed instructions how to crack a turtle's shell for meat or how to properly skin and butcher a rabbit you raised yourself. It is a quick read - made even quicker by my skipping most of the chapter on grains (being gluten intolerant, learning about cracking my own wheat is not so helpful to me).
Most importantly, I felt, is an epilogue included by Dolly in 2009 - now older, wiser, and less of a "possum" than she was when this book was originally published in the 70s. She repeatedly denounces her previous advocacy of harassment/illegal behavior to get what one wants, citing her father's negative influence (turns out Daddy was an alcoholic who, when drunk was paranoid and aggressive, eventually leading to Dolly's estrangement from the father whom she once professed she would never leave). Dolly, once believing Daddy could do no harm, eventually came to see how his bully tactics affected others and didn't jive with her desire to be a good neighbor (he "protested" a company buying and developing nearby land by burning down the houses three times during mid-build). Once disliking the idea of formalized education, Dolly got her GED, studied for and took her SATs - and went on to work for NASA before eventually settling into the role of environmental educator. While she says she thinks most of what she wrote still rings true today, she contradicts herself by listing all the things she doesn't think she could do again unless she absolutely HAD to. Although a book by Dolly as she exits today couldn't properly be called possum living, I would be much more interested to read a book written by her now rather than as a "cocky 18-year old" (her words, not mine).
December 23, 2010
I do not think homesteaders are crazy; heck, I aspire to be a homesteader. However, I think the author of this book is a bit crazy. She talks about “leaving the rat race,” but it seems she was never in it; what she really means is that her father (whom she calls Daddy throughout the book) left the rat race and her mother left them. She plans to have kids someday while continuing to live with her father and having a man either move in or “visit.” (Yeah, good luck finding a guy to father your children when you spend all your time at home with “Daddy”) And one of her ways of dealing with legal issues it to “catch your adversary’s attention” by doing things like throwing a brick through his window in the middle of the night. She mentions other people that she claims are making the homesteaders look bad, but does not realize she is one of them.
Since she was never in the rat race, you’d think this book has some helpful tips about starting homesteading without having ever been in the rat race; but sadly, it does not. The house she lives in was bought by her parents when they worked, and she says that one should work for a few years to buy a house and give it to their children. Personally I think a huge part of homesteading is being self-sufficient, and would not want my adult offspring dependent on me giving them a house.
Not only does this book not tell you how to start from nothing, it also does not tell you much of anything. There are a few tips, but certainly not $10 worth. More than once it tells you to go to read books about a subject, when if you bought this book you probably expected this book to tell you about the subject. The fact that this book was written by a 19 year old with a 7th grade education and a sense of entitlement (that she somehow manages to have while homesteading) really shows. This reads more like the diary of a sheltered girl than a book of homesteading tips.
If you are looking to begin homesteading, do not read this book as it will only sully your perception of homesteading and homesteaders. If you are a homesteader already read it to laugh at the absurdity, but don’t expect to get $10 worth of homesteading tips.
Since she was never in the rat race, you’d think this book has some helpful tips about starting homesteading without having ever been in the rat race; but sadly, it does not. The house she lives in was bought by her parents when they worked, and she says that one should work for a few years to buy a house and give it to their children. Personally I think a huge part of homesteading is being self-sufficient, and would not want my adult offspring dependent on me giving them a house.
Not only does this book not tell you how to start from nothing, it also does not tell you much of anything. There are a few tips, but certainly not $10 worth. More than once it tells you to go to read books about a subject, when if you bought this book you probably expected this book to tell you about the subject. The fact that this book was written by a 19 year old with a 7th grade education and a sense of entitlement (that she somehow manages to have while homesteading) really shows. This reads more like the diary of a sheltered girl than a book of homesteading tips.
If you are looking to begin homesteading, do not read this book as it will only sully your perception of homesteading and homesteaders. If you are a homesteader already read it to laugh at the absurdity, but don’t expect to get $10 worth of homesteading tips.
July 24, 2011
In 1978 an 18-year-old young woman wrote Possum Living to explain and, to a certain degree to teach, about she and her father's life of voluntary simplicity. It made a few waves and then seemed to slip beneath the surface of popular opinion until 2010, when the original publication was found in an attic and subsequently republished. This how-to manual on the simple life was penned by Dolly Freed, a blunt no-nonsense sort who is difficult to ignore. I started the book half-heartedly, expecting to put it down after a few chapters. But the rationale behind the arguments posited in this book are such an amusing mix of naivety and experience I just couldn't stop reading.
Although at the time she had no more than a seventh grade education, Freed is clearly a very intelligent young woman. In her chapter on housing she lays out how to buy foreclosed property with as much precision as any real estate lawyer. She also has quite a background in how to make moonshine. At the same time, her youth and lack of experience smacks you in the face. An excellent example of this being her chapter on how to deal with law, which basically proposes that you break out windows and verbally abuse anyone who isn't playing exactly fair. (Thankfully, Freed does retract that philosophy in this newer edition of the book, stating that age and wisdom have changed her thinking in this particular regard.)
If you're interested in back-to-the-land books I'd recommend Possum Living for you. But not so much as a how-to manual (as it was intended) but for the fascinating insight into the life of a young woman in the 1970s who was doing this "back to the land thing." I'd love to have met the 18-year-old Dolly Freed, I imagine she was a force to reckoned with.
Although at the time she had no more than a seventh grade education, Freed is clearly a very intelligent young woman. In her chapter on housing she lays out how to buy foreclosed property with as much precision as any real estate lawyer. She also has quite a background in how to make moonshine. At the same time, her youth and lack of experience smacks you in the face. An excellent example of this being her chapter on how to deal with law, which basically proposes that you break out windows and verbally abuse anyone who isn't playing exactly fair. (Thankfully, Freed does retract that philosophy in this newer edition of the book, stating that age and wisdom have changed her thinking in this particular regard.)
If you're interested in back-to-the-land books I'd recommend Possum Living for you. But not so much as a how-to manual (as it was intended) but for the fascinating insight into the life of a young woman in the 1970s who was doing this "back to the land thing." I'd love to have met the 18-year-old Dolly Freed, I imagine she was a force to reckoned with.
October 27, 2012
One star for INSANITY. Written in 1978 by 18 year old 'Dolly Freed,' this isn't so much a practical guide for living cheaply as it is a crazed manifesto. Bursting at the seams with rhetoric one can only assume she absorbed from 'daddy'--the undisguisedly alcoholic father she lived with for 5 years on a half-acre lot in Pennsylvania, raising rabbits for slaughter and brewing up moonshine (all without a day job!)--this book contains everything from how to build a wood stove from a barrel to, yes, systematically threatening your foes by calling their workplaces and/or throwing bricks through their windows. You know, 'cause we possums got our own laws.
But seriously.
If you're really looking for updated information about checking out from the 'money economy', skip it. There are better resources out there. Or, by god, I hope there are. This manifesto will only make you feel like more of a crackpot for thinking about grinding your own flour in the first place. But if you want to be dazzled? If you want to be horrified and fascinated and weirdly inspired, but also feel kind of confused and dirty? Follow my lead. Find it at your local bookstore, skim for 45 minutes, return to shelf without having exchanged any of your hard-earned dollars.
That's what Dolly would have wanted.
But seriously.
If you're really looking for updated information about checking out from the 'money economy', skip it. There are better resources out there. Or, by god, I hope there are. This manifesto will only make you feel like more of a crackpot for thinking about grinding your own flour in the first place. But if you want to be dazzled? If you want to be horrified and fascinated and weirdly inspired, but also feel kind of confused and dirty? Follow my lead. Find it at your local bookstore, skim for 45 minutes, return to shelf without having exchanged any of your hard-earned dollars.
That's what Dolly would have wanted.
August 1, 2012
I became interested in this book after reading about Dolly Freed in a blog. Freed (a pen name) was only 18 when she wrote this book in the 1970s, which in part explains how radical it is. She lived with her father in a house outside Philadelphia which they bought for cheap and renovated themselves, and continued to live off the land, not working "real jobs" or relying on money.
One of Freed's main points is how ironic it is that the majority of us work for most of the day in order to make money to buy stuff that we're too busy to enjoy because we're working too much. She speaks adamantly against this rat race that revolves around money, achievement, and prestige, and argues that less stuff and fewer obligations are what constitute true freedom.
Reading "Possum Living" certainly didn't motivate me to abandon my job or my bank account and move to the woods, but it did encourage me to think deeply about what kinds of things weigh on me and cause stress in my life, and how I can let go and become more free.
Interestingly, in the afterword, which Freed wrote more than 20 years later, she acknowledges that, in her youth, she was quite naive, and that, as she has grown older, she's become less radical both in philosophy and practice. (For example, she's now not so much into evading the law in order to avoid paying for things.) She does, however, continue to emphasize the importance of living freely - which can mean different things for different people.
One of Freed's main points is how ironic it is that the majority of us work for most of the day in order to make money to buy stuff that we're too busy to enjoy because we're working too much. She speaks adamantly against this rat race that revolves around money, achievement, and prestige, and argues that less stuff and fewer obligations are what constitute true freedom.
Reading "Possum Living" certainly didn't motivate me to abandon my job or my bank account and move to the woods, but it did encourage me to think deeply about what kinds of things weigh on me and cause stress in my life, and how I can let go and become more free.
Interestingly, in the afterword, which Freed wrote more than 20 years later, she acknowledges that, in her youth, she was quite naive, and that, as she has grown older, she's become less radical both in philosophy and practice. (For example, she's now not so much into evading the law in order to avoid paying for things.) She does, however, continue to emphasize the importance of living freely - which can mean different things for different people.
March 23, 2018
'Possum Living: How to Live Well Without a Job and with (Almost) No Money' could just as easily be called 'How to Kill Stuff and Eat it' as that's what the lion's share of this survivalism classic is about.
The true life story of the girl behind the pseudonym Dolly Freed is as fascinating as the book itself but you can google that.
I read it cold, knowing nothing much about it, and all I'm sharing here are a handful of my half-assed random impressions of the book.
What struck me like a blow to the head was how startling, forthright and downright funny it is.
The narrator extols the virtues of laziness, lying and tax evasion and makes no bones about killing animals — so long as you're going to eat them.
She describes in graphic detail how to rear, kill and butcher animals for food. And more power to her for having the guts to do it herself.
There's plenty of good, down to earth, common sense advice on homesteading, mixed in with homespun wisdom and the occasional bizarre contradiction.
She laughs at people who are squeamish about, for example, killing rabbits because they're cute (also delicious) but doesn't kill possums 'for totemic reasons.'
In later sections there's antiquated advice on how to buy a cheap property and do it up yourself. And although some of it creaks and groans like a screen door banging in the wind the underlying principles are sound.
Right near the end it gets really nutty and some of the things she says are outrageous. Gotten into a financial dispute with someone who is trying to rip you off? Don't get a lawyer — just intimidate them. And if that doesn't work, kill their dog.
So by all means take it with a giant pinch of salt.
But there's an intelligent message here — an ecology even — that I'd take any day over any number of 'white middle-class people throw out all their shit and feel better about themselves' books that pass for advice on minimalist living.
Own your own property and land. Cut your expenses to the absolute minimum. Learn how to fend for yourself. Become self-sufficient rather than money dependent. And make sure that everything you do supports everything else.
Why throw rotten vegetables on a compost heap for months when you can feed them to rabbits, who shit it out the next day, and fertilise the garden with that instead? Then you raise, breed, kill and eat the rabbits (along with fresh vegetables).
I don't doubt such advice is nothing new if you're any type of survivalist, homesteader or sit on your porch with a shotgun. But it was interesting to read a dated self-help book that was still surprisingly funny and, dare I say it, helpful.
I'll leave you with her closing thoughts:
"Now, then, don't you have a hobby you just don't have time to pursue? Golf? Tennis? Partying? Studying? Music? Painting? Pottery? Hang gliding? Whatever? Even fishing or gardening — wouldn't you like to change these from merely recreation to partly occupation?
Yes? Then why don't you simply do so?
It's feasible. It's easy. It can be done. It should be done.
Do it."
Now get off of my lawn.
You can buy the book here.
The true life story of the girl behind the pseudonym Dolly Freed is as fascinating as the book itself but you can google that.
I read it cold, knowing nothing much about it, and all I'm sharing here are a handful of my half-assed random impressions of the book.
What struck me like a blow to the head was how startling, forthright and downright funny it is.
The narrator extols the virtues of laziness, lying and tax evasion and makes no bones about killing animals — so long as you're going to eat them.
She describes in graphic detail how to rear, kill and butcher animals for food. And more power to her for having the guts to do it herself.
There's plenty of good, down to earth, common sense advice on homesteading, mixed in with homespun wisdom and the occasional bizarre contradiction.
She laughs at people who are squeamish about, for example, killing rabbits because they're cute (also delicious) but doesn't kill possums 'for totemic reasons.'
In later sections there's antiquated advice on how to buy a cheap property and do it up yourself. And although some of it creaks and groans like a screen door banging in the wind the underlying principles are sound.
Right near the end it gets really nutty and some of the things she says are outrageous. Gotten into a financial dispute with someone who is trying to rip you off? Don't get a lawyer — just intimidate them. And if that doesn't work, kill their dog.
So by all means take it with a giant pinch of salt.
But there's an intelligent message here — an ecology even — that I'd take any day over any number of 'white middle-class people throw out all their shit and feel better about themselves' books that pass for advice on minimalist living.
Own your own property and land. Cut your expenses to the absolute minimum. Learn how to fend for yourself. Become self-sufficient rather than money dependent. And make sure that everything you do supports everything else.
Why throw rotten vegetables on a compost heap for months when you can feed them to rabbits, who shit it out the next day, and fertilise the garden with that instead? Then you raise, breed, kill and eat the rabbits (along with fresh vegetables).
I don't doubt such advice is nothing new if you're any type of survivalist, homesteader or sit on your porch with a shotgun. But it was interesting to read a dated self-help book that was still surprisingly funny and, dare I say it, helpful.
I'll leave you with her closing thoughts:
"Now, then, don't you have a hobby you just don't have time to pursue? Golf? Tennis? Partying? Studying? Music? Painting? Pottery? Hang gliding? Whatever? Even fishing or gardening — wouldn't you like to change these from merely recreation to partly occupation?
Yes? Then why don't you simply do so?
It's feasible. It's easy. It can be done. It should be done.
Do it."
Now get off of my lawn.
You can buy the book here.
February 24, 2022
This is my second time reading this book. It's just fun to dream about a simpler life although I don't think I would be very good with raising rabbits for meat or any of the hunting that they did but I admire their self-sufficiency. The writer went on to work for NASA later in her years. You don't have to agree with all of it and the author was very young when she wrote this book. In the back of the book she talks about where she's at now. Married and well educated. She sees life differently but self sufficiency and simple living can be beneficial to anyone. It's interesting how they lived on so little and made it work.
October 7, 2010
The book advocates avoidance of paying taxes to "the government" but suggests the utilization of government services such as libraries, extension services, schools, parks, and roads (but not fire departments).
"Well" for the standard of living in the United States, is a bit of a misnomer. This family lacks health insurance and if they ended up in the emergency room (we all require more medical care as we age), their bill would be something everyone else would have to pay for.
Society is subsidizing their no money lifestyle.
"Well" for the standard of living in the United States, is a bit of a misnomer. This family lacks health insurance and if they ended up in the emergency room (we all require more medical care as we age), their bill would be something everyone else would have to pay for.
Society is subsidizing their no money lifestyle.
Read
June 25, 2017This book should have been called "How to eat shit that you never thought you could (and really shouldn't) while being smug about it." I hate working full-time like anyone who is sane with a soul, but I am NOT eating cats!
December 18, 2020
this book is dated but the values that underpin it are great. i found the two afterwords (written decades after the original publication) to be the most inspiring and applicable. basically, save your money, make and repair and cook for yourself, create meaning in relationships and not things.
November 29, 2016
Escrito por Dolly Freed, en 1976 una chica de 17 años, que lleva cinco viviendo con su padre en un régimen de gasto casi nulo. Ninguno de los dos gana, ni tampoco gasta, prácticamente nada de dinero y aún así viven, según dicen, con la relativa tranquilidad de cualquier otra familia suburbana de clase media. ¿Cómo hacen?
"Entre el 1 de agosto de 1975 y el 1 de agosto de 1976 sólo gastamos mil cuatrocientos noventa y ocho dólares con setenta y cinco centavos.
-¡Imposible! -gritó mi padre- ¿A dónde ha ido a parar todo ese dinero?"
Tras un periodo en donde no he podido conectar con casi nada de lo que me ha caído a las manos, debo decir que este libro ha conseguido reconciliarme con la literatura (si El lápiz de gel verde lo es, Possum Living también). Dolly justifica y reafirma su estatus de voluntaria outsider con la inteligencia de quien conoce el arte de la retórica a la perfección, y no sólo eso, sino que después se las ingenia para reírse de ti con el desparpajo de quien sabe de antemano las respuestas a todas las recriminaciones que le podrías formular.
Mezcla de manifiesto irónico y guía práctica de supervivencia, Dolly explica cómo conseguir una casa en las subastas fiscales, una que esté tirada de precio, y a donde puedas montar una vivienda de zarigüeya en toda regla. Una en la que puedas aprender a montar cosas como un criadero de conejos de garaje, una huerta de jardín, una alambique, y en donde te las ingeniarás para conseguir, ropa, combustible, forraje e insumos de todo tipo a precios irrisorios. Cómo cazar, cómo pescar, sembrar, recolectar y luego almacenar casi todo lo necesario para vivir una vida en donde, las obligaciones de buscarse el pan, todo el tiempo se mezclarán con el ocio, al punto en donde ya no es posible definir dónde empiezan unas y acaba el otro. "Si sales a buscar bayas al tiempo que clasificas aves migratorias, ¿ha sido ocio o trabajo?"
"Las vacaciones: otra fuente de derroche muy extendida, no nos hacen falta. Nuestra vida diaria es un enorme período vacacional. No sentimos la necesidad de "olvidarnos de todo" porque no hay nada que queramos olvidar"
Toda una declaración de principios que busca despegarse tanto del obligado "American way of life" de la era Carter como del frenesí hippie tardío, o aquél de los ecologistas que se encadenan a un árbol y después van a comprar el pan en coche. "Nosotros lo único que pretendemos es que nos dejen en paz". Escrito en 1976 un libro que consigue mantenerse de una actualidad rabiosa.
Pd: Casi tan bueno como el libro son las reacciones escandalizadas de los adalides del orden y la Ley, estos que tras reseñarlo con una estrella después necesitan explicarnos el porqué :O
"Entre el 1 de agosto de 1975 y el 1 de agosto de 1976 sólo gastamos mil cuatrocientos noventa y ocho dólares con setenta y cinco centavos.
-¡Imposible! -gritó mi padre- ¿A dónde ha ido a parar todo ese dinero?"
Tras un periodo en donde no he podido conectar con casi nada de lo que me ha caído a las manos, debo decir que este libro ha conseguido reconciliarme con la literatura (si El lápiz de gel verde lo es, Possum Living también). Dolly justifica y reafirma su estatus de voluntaria outsider con la inteligencia de quien conoce el arte de la retórica a la perfección, y no sólo eso, sino que después se las ingenia para reírse de ti con el desparpajo de quien sabe de antemano las respuestas a todas las recriminaciones que le podrías formular.
Mezcla de manifiesto irónico y guía práctica de supervivencia, Dolly explica cómo conseguir una casa en las subastas fiscales, una que esté tirada de precio, y a donde puedas montar una vivienda de zarigüeya en toda regla. Una en la que puedas aprender a montar cosas como un criadero de conejos de garaje, una huerta de jardín, una alambique, y en donde te las ingeniarás para conseguir, ropa, combustible, forraje e insumos de todo tipo a precios irrisorios. Cómo cazar, cómo pescar, sembrar, recolectar y luego almacenar casi todo lo necesario para vivir una vida en donde, las obligaciones de buscarse el pan, todo el tiempo se mezclarán con el ocio, al punto en donde ya no es posible definir dónde empiezan unas y acaba el otro. "Si sales a buscar bayas al tiempo que clasificas aves migratorias, ¿ha sido ocio o trabajo?"
"Las vacaciones: otra fuente de derroche muy extendida, no nos hacen falta. Nuestra vida diaria es un enorme período vacacional. No sentimos la necesidad de "olvidarnos de todo" porque no hay nada que queramos olvidar"
Toda una declaración de principios que busca despegarse tanto del obligado "American way of life" de la era Carter como del frenesí hippie tardío, o aquél de los ecologistas que se encadenan a un árbol y después van a comprar el pan en coche. "Nosotros lo único que pretendemos es que nos dejen en paz". Escrito en 1976 un libro que consigue mantenerse de una actualidad rabiosa.
Pd: Casi tan bueno como el libro son las reacciones escandalizadas de los adalides del orden y la Ley, estos que tras reseñarlo con una estrella después necesitan explicarnos el porqué :O
May 12, 2010
(reposted from my blog)
I first came across information about Possum Living online, actually; I stumbled across the Possum Living blog and was simply fascinated. "Dolly Freed" (not her real name) was a good writer with a distinctive, funny voice, and I was curious what she might have had to say about life without a job back in her late teens.
Turns out, she had plenty to say. Dolly's "possum living" existence -- surviving and thriving with no regular job, living on just enough money to buy absolute essentials -- is reprinted just as it was first published in 1978 (with a few judicious comments and an afterword by the author, now older and wiser). She sketches out the basics of her possum existence (raising/hunting/killing/skinning your own meat, growing your own vegetables, distilling your own alcohol, buying and fixing up houses, handling legal disputes, avoiding taxes) in detail, adding subversive and funny touches. The kicker is that you have to be willing to make, grow or forage for nearly everything you need, so it's hardly a lazy existence; I happen to like our current way of life and I'm not convinced that I should try bailing out just to see what it's like. But it's relieving to know that if you're willing to put in the effort, it's very possible to live well on little ready money.
The best entertainment value in the book, to my mind, is the afterword. Dolly has plenty to say about her young and sassy opinions, some of which she no longer espouses (especially the chapter about legal disputes, and about dealing with people who have done you wrong by clandestinely breaking their windows or slashing their tires). She also admits what the observant reader has already seen between the lines of the original text: that her father, with whom she lived during the years she wrote Possum Living, was an alcoholic who eventually lost access to his entire family because of his addiction, and who in later years became outright abusive and dangerous. At least some of what the young Dolly has written is her way of putting a brave face over a bad situation. But that, too, is part of what makes this book compelling.
I first came across information about Possum Living online, actually; I stumbled across the Possum Living blog and was simply fascinated. "Dolly Freed" (not her real name) was a good writer with a distinctive, funny voice, and I was curious what she might have had to say about life without a job back in her late teens.
Turns out, she had plenty to say. Dolly's "possum living" existence -- surviving and thriving with no regular job, living on just enough money to buy absolute essentials -- is reprinted just as it was first published in 1978 (with a few judicious comments and an afterword by the author, now older and wiser). She sketches out the basics of her possum existence (raising/hunting/killing/skinning your own meat, growing your own vegetables, distilling your own alcohol, buying and fixing up houses, handling legal disputes, avoiding taxes) in detail, adding subversive and funny touches. The kicker is that you have to be willing to make, grow or forage for nearly everything you need, so it's hardly a lazy existence; I happen to like our current way of life and I'm not convinced that I should try bailing out just to see what it's like. But it's relieving to know that if you're willing to put in the effort, it's very possible to live well on little ready money.
The best entertainment value in the book, to my mind, is the afterword. Dolly has plenty to say about her young and sassy opinions, some of which she no longer espouses (especially the chapter about legal disputes, and about dealing with people who have done you wrong by clandestinely breaking their windows or slashing their tires). She also admits what the observant reader has already seen between the lines of the original text: that her father, with whom she lived during the years she wrote Possum Living, was an alcoholic who eventually lost access to his entire family because of his addiction, and who in later years became outright abusive and dangerous. At least some of what the young Dolly has written is her way of putting a brave face over a bad situation. But that, too, is part of what makes this book compelling.
October 28, 2018
Total crap. The author makes so many preachy “facts”, with her only proof being ‘trust me’. She pokes fun at vegetarians and reminds us that Hitler was also vegetarian. She poo-poos organic food, claiming that growing your own is just as good. She suggests violence and threats to get others to do the “right thing”. I kept reading this ignorance just to see what other ludicrous bs she would say, and then I got to the afterword. I am annoyed that she begins it by saying that even though she wrote this as a cocky 18 yr old, and more than 30 yrs have passed, the book is “still right on target”, and then she lists the exceptions, which are numerous. During the writing, she praises her daddy who seems like a total nut job, but later we find out he was just a drunk. She goes back on several of her “right on target” suggestions because after moving, she recognizes that she didn’t have nearly the clue she thought she did when writing the book. Age doesn’t seem to have changed her inability to see herself as cocky or clueless. She tells you to ‘be wary of the shoulds’, but ends the book by asking if you’re living the life you want. If not, ”it should be done”. The only thing I think should be done is avoiding this judgmental nonsense.
April 15, 2022
I appreciate the intention of this book and the lifestyle it describes, but it did have quite a few “yikes” moments for me. I had to keep reminding myself that it was written by an eighteen year old, and forgiving the cockiness/naivety. This new edition contains an afterword which I really enjoyed. The author addresses some problematic parts of her original book, reaffirms what still holds true, and lets us know how possum living has shaped her life since the book ended.
March 2, 2010
First published in 1978, this not-so-well written book is written by 17 year old Dolly Freed who lives with her father, and whose joint goal is to “live well without a job and with (almost) no money. “How do they do this you may ask; by raising rabbits in the basement and clunking them over the head before pa puts rabbit stew on the kettle. They also, grown their own crops, pick old produce from area supermarkets and bought their own wardrobes at Goodwill for less than $15. Dad and Dolly aren’t homeless; just very anti-government, and not willing to pay taxes or “kill themselves working a steady job”. However, if you ask me, after reading this book, and after taking into account the raising and killing of rabbits, wrestling woodchucks, sowing and reaping a garden, rummaging in garbage for old produce, dragging 50lb bags of grain home on a three speed old bike, it would have been much easier for them to work a part time job at Walgreens......I must say that since Dolly has dropped out of school, she aced her SAT’s from an education she got at her public library, put herself through college and is now an environment educator, business owner and college professor! This book was recently re-released this year and for some reason, has caused quite a stir, followed by a long wait at the library!
September 1, 2018
In the 1970s, Dolly Freed and her father lived completely off the land, dirt cheap. Living in their own house on a half-acre lot outside of Philly for almost 5 years, Dolly and her father produced their own food and drink (read: Moonshine!) and spent roughly $700 each per year.
I learned how to dress a snapping turtle and make Moonshine in a crackpot. I don't think I'll do either of those things soon, but it made for some pretty fascinating reading.
The new afterword is equally fascinating. Dolly has changed -a lot!- and doesn't agree with a lot of what she wrote when she was a very young adult, especially their interesting tactics for skirting the law. She put herself through college, worked for NASA (where she helped pinpoint the reason for the Challenger's explosion), and went on to earn two master's degrees. She's an environmental educator now.
Great for anyone wanting to read more about a -very- unusual way of living life.
I learned how to dress a snapping turtle and make Moonshine in a crackpot. I don't think I'll do either of those things soon, but it made for some pretty fascinating reading.
The new afterword is equally fascinating. Dolly has changed -a lot!- and doesn't agree with a lot of what she wrote when she was a very young adult, especially their interesting tactics for skirting the law. She put herself through college, worked for NASA (where she helped pinpoint the reason for the Challenger's explosion), and went on to earn two master's degrees. She's an environmental educator now.
Great for anyone wanting to read more about a -very- unusual way of living life.
March 15, 2011
Surprisingly enjoyable read, with a mix of how-to (on a remarkably wide variety of subjects) with a counter-culture manifesto about separating oneself from the everyday grind. "Dolly" points out how you truly need so little of what our consumption-oriented life tells us we need. The big stumbling block for most people is that this low-cost lifestyle assumes you own your home in cash and don't have a mortgage to service. For most people living the "normal" sub-urban or urban lifestyle, that's a non-starter, but it doesn't render the book's advice useless by any stretch of the imagination.
Well worth reading, whether for the recipes, the how-to, or simply putting the thought in your head that you don't have to live the way most of society says we have to in order to be happy and healthy.
Well worth reading, whether for the recipes, the how-to, or simply putting the thought in your head that you don't have to live the way most of society says we have to in order to be happy and healthy.
August 16, 2023
My wife turned me on to this book, and I loved it. It didn't convince me to drop out and become a possum, but it did clarify in my mind that I put too much pressure on myself to earn money. Dolly Freed is a clever writer, and I laughed out loud several times while reading the book. Having grown up in rural northeast Texas, not all of the concepts were alien to me. I've definitely eaten my share of fish that I caught myself, and I know how enjoyable both the catching and the eating of those fish can be.
December 14, 2011
This was fun. I particularly enjoyed Freed's revisions that appeared after the book proper, some 30 years later, where she retracted some of the ideas that caused me to discredit her earlier on in the book. The ultimate truth remained the same, though. There are many ways to live this life, and not all involve 'work' in the traditional sense. Life would be a lot easier for a lot of people if we all did with a few less 'things' and a little more time.
March 9, 2019
I can say with certainty that I will not be committing to going “full possum”. I admire those who can.
July 18, 2017
Una obra cortita (para poco más de un par de horas) y muy amena sobre la experiencia setentera de una adolescente y su padre que vivieron durante años en régimen de autogestión en una propiedad campestre a las afueras de Philladelphia. La mayor parte del libro gira alrededor del recetario que elaboraron para sobrevivir, del cual la mitad son bebidas alcohólicas destiladas en un alambique casero; el resto es sobre cómo desollar cualquier animal de la Creación, con algunos apartados breves sobre el vestir, la vivienda y otras cuestiones cotidianas.
El libro es rematado por un texto de la autora compuesto casi 4 décadas después (hace casi una década de ahora) en la que explica cómo su entendimiento ha evolucionado por otros derroteros más tradicionales (mucho en algunos casos), pero que su vida ha seguido siendo interesante (¡trabajó en la NASA y lo dejó porque se aburría!) e impulsa al resto del mundo a que, aunque acepte algunos parámetros de la vida moderna, no se deje subyugar por las distracciones y persiga su bienestar de la forma más colaborativa y altruista. El mensaje es refrescante, aunque en mi mente hubiera preferido que siguiera viviendo en su propio experimento a ver cómo lo compatibilizaba con los avances tecnológicos y la subida de los precios.
El libro es rematado por un texto de la autora compuesto casi 4 décadas después (hace casi una década de ahora) en la que explica cómo su entendimiento ha evolucionado por otros derroteros más tradicionales (mucho en algunos casos), pero que su vida ha seguido siendo interesante (¡trabajó en la NASA y lo dejó porque se aburría!) e impulsa al resto del mundo a que, aunque acepte algunos parámetros de la vida moderna, no se deje subyugar por las distracciones y persiga su bienestar de la forma más colaborativa y altruista. El mensaje es refrescante, aunque en mi mente hubiera preferido que siguiera viviendo en su propio experimento a ver cómo lo compatibilizaba con los avances tecnológicos y la subida de los precios.
June 15, 2021
A guide to living on very little money, incorporating recipes and philosophy and a sometimes-wicked sense of humor. Cheerfully anarchic, but not for everyone.
July 15, 2013
Dolly Freed fue ingeniera aeronáutica en la NASA, destacada en su examen del SAT (test de aptitud escolar) casi que aprendiendo todo lo que pudo de manera gratuita en las bibliotecas públicas leyendo y luego estudiando una carrera formal logra su ingreso a la NASA, fue educadora ambiental y profesora universitaria; hasta aquí nada del otro mundo excepto que haya tenido las ganas de aprender casi todo sola. Pero lo que hace llamativa e interesante su historia es su juventud junto a su padre viviendo sin trabajar y con un casi cero en sus cuentas bancarias simplemente para demostrar que se puede vivir felizmente sin trabajar o al menos haciéndolo lo menos posible.
En la década de los años setenta Dolly Freed junto a su padre decidieron vivir de una forma que para algunos era o podría ser una locura, simplemente “trabajando lo menos posible” y sobreviviendo con el menor dinero disponible en el banco (solo setecientos dólares al año), toda su comida y bebida era producida por ellos mismos, la idea era simplemente demostrar que se podía vivir dichosamente sin las preocupaciones que trae el día a día, las posesiones y la modernidad.
El libro arranca con el ejemplo del ateniense “chiflado” Diógenes que vivía aferrado fielmente a la frase “la gente no tiene posesiones, sus posesiones los tienen a ellos” y vivió durante gran parte de su vida en un barril en un parque público sin absolutamente ninguna pertenencia, este filosofo era el ídolo del padre de Dolly y partiendo de esa máxima él decide seguir su ejemplo y romper todas las cadenas que lo mantenían atado con las cosas materiales y cualquier trabajo que se le pagara por hacerlo para comenzar de esta manera la búsqueda de la independencia absoluta junto con su familia. Su esposa después de intentarlo con ellos abandona esa búsqueda y Dolly queda con su padre y comienza esta experiencia para demostrar que se puede vivir felizmente sin trabajar, cultivando y cazando lo que se come a diario sin preocupación alguna. Dolly ve la oportunidad de mostrar esto como una enseñanza a todo el mundo y comienza a escribir este libro que bien podría ser una guía y un diario de lo que ha sido la experiencia más grata de su vida.
“Vida de Zarigüeyas” es un libro de ayuda y guía para los que decidan tomar este camino de liberación y felicidad según las palabras de su autora, en el vamos a encontrar datos de cómo sembrar, cazar, que comer sin riesgo de envenenarse, como sobrevivir con las “necesidades vitales”, cada capítulo se divide con títulos como “Carne”, “Pescado”, “El huerto”, “Nutrición”, “Electricidad”, “Calefacción”, “Salud y medicina” entre otros. A medida que uno va leyendo es inevitable pensar si uno se atrevería a tal hazaña, desligándose de todo y vivir de esta forma tan libre y a su vez arriesgada.
Lo más resaltante es que Dolly aclara muy bien que ellos deciden tomar esta manera de vivir no por ser hippies o pertenecer a secta alguna, ellos deciden hacerlo simplemente porque ven como todos sus conocidos a pesar de tener éxito y posesiones que deberían hacerlos felices de igual manera se encuentran como derrotados ante la vida simplemente son una especie de esclavos de las leyes y la sociedad, por esa razón deciden convertirse en zarigüeyas humanas ya que este animal se puede adaptar muy fácilmente a cualquier entorno en el que viva, incluyendo ciudades.
El libro cierra con un Epilogo de su autora donde treinta años mas tarde nos explica cómo se siente luego de haber tenido esa experiencia de separarse de toda atadura material; ya Dolly ha regresado a la sociedad y tiene una familia en una zona costera de Texas pero aun mantiene y enseña a sus hijos las bases fundamentales que la llevaron en su juventud a llevar una vida de Zarigüeya y hace lo posible porque ellos tengan esas mismas bases como visión de superarse en la vida, sus líneas de vida “Puede hacerse. Debe hacerse. Hacedlo. No tenéis todo el tiempo del mundo” y ese es el mensaje mas importante que ella desea hacer llegar a todos los que la lean.
En fin, yo en lo personal acepto que me encuentro felizmente atado a las comodidades de la modernidad y sería muy difícil que me atreva hacer algo de esta magnitud, pero el libro lo he disfrutado mucho y ha resultado ser una grata sorpresa, también recomiendo el corto que lleva por nombre “Possum Living” (nombre original del libro) sobre Dolly Freed y su padre en el que pueden ver imágenes de lo que se habla en el libro, en youtube lo pueden encontrar.
En la década de los años setenta Dolly Freed junto a su padre decidieron vivir de una forma que para algunos era o podría ser una locura, simplemente “trabajando lo menos posible” y sobreviviendo con el menor dinero disponible en el banco (solo setecientos dólares al año), toda su comida y bebida era producida por ellos mismos, la idea era simplemente demostrar que se podía vivir dichosamente sin las preocupaciones que trae el día a día, las posesiones y la modernidad.
El libro arranca con el ejemplo del ateniense “chiflado” Diógenes que vivía aferrado fielmente a la frase “la gente no tiene posesiones, sus posesiones los tienen a ellos” y vivió durante gran parte de su vida en un barril en un parque público sin absolutamente ninguna pertenencia, este filosofo era el ídolo del padre de Dolly y partiendo de esa máxima él decide seguir su ejemplo y romper todas las cadenas que lo mantenían atado con las cosas materiales y cualquier trabajo que se le pagara por hacerlo para comenzar de esta manera la búsqueda de la independencia absoluta junto con su familia. Su esposa después de intentarlo con ellos abandona esa búsqueda y Dolly queda con su padre y comienza esta experiencia para demostrar que se puede vivir felizmente sin trabajar, cultivando y cazando lo que se come a diario sin preocupación alguna. Dolly ve la oportunidad de mostrar esto como una enseñanza a todo el mundo y comienza a escribir este libro que bien podría ser una guía y un diario de lo que ha sido la experiencia más grata de su vida.
“Vida de Zarigüeyas” es un libro de ayuda y guía para los que decidan tomar este camino de liberación y felicidad según las palabras de su autora, en el vamos a encontrar datos de cómo sembrar, cazar, que comer sin riesgo de envenenarse, como sobrevivir con las “necesidades vitales”, cada capítulo se divide con títulos como “Carne”, “Pescado”, “El huerto”, “Nutrición”, “Electricidad”, “Calefacción”, “Salud y medicina” entre otros. A medida que uno va leyendo es inevitable pensar si uno se atrevería a tal hazaña, desligándose de todo y vivir de esta forma tan libre y a su vez arriesgada.
Lo más resaltante es que Dolly aclara muy bien que ellos deciden tomar esta manera de vivir no por ser hippies o pertenecer a secta alguna, ellos deciden hacerlo simplemente porque ven como todos sus conocidos a pesar de tener éxito y posesiones que deberían hacerlos felices de igual manera se encuentran como derrotados ante la vida simplemente son una especie de esclavos de las leyes y la sociedad, por esa razón deciden convertirse en zarigüeyas humanas ya que este animal se puede adaptar muy fácilmente a cualquier entorno en el que viva, incluyendo ciudades.
El libro cierra con un Epilogo de su autora donde treinta años mas tarde nos explica cómo se siente luego de haber tenido esa experiencia de separarse de toda atadura material; ya Dolly ha regresado a la sociedad y tiene una familia en una zona costera de Texas pero aun mantiene y enseña a sus hijos las bases fundamentales que la llevaron en su juventud a llevar una vida de Zarigüeya y hace lo posible porque ellos tengan esas mismas bases como visión de superarse en la vida, sus líneas de vida “Puede hacerse. Debe hacerse. Hacedlo. No tenéis todo el tiempo del mundo” y ese es el mensaje mas importante que ella desea hacer llegar a todos los que la lean.
En fin, yo en lo personal acepto que me encuentro felizmente atado a las comodidades de la modernidad y sería muy difícil que me atreva hacer algo de esta magnitud, pero el libro lo he disfrutado mucho y ha resultado ser una grata sorpresa, también recomiendo el corto que lleva por nombre “Possum Living” (nombre original del libro) sobre Dolly Freed y su padre en el que pueden ver imágenes de lo que se habla en el libro, en youtube lo pueden encontrar.
July 23, 2010
Sometimes how-to books are worth reading not because they're particularly informative, but because they're encouraging. I often use literature as a sort of prescribed propaganda, reading certain books and articles not to learn, but to feel less alone in my interests, and less marginalized in my desires.
This book is a great example of all that. Really, Dolly Freed doesn't give much information that you couldn't come up with yourself, and what she does teach are the sorts of things you really need practice doing to actually learn. But the book is great because it serves as a voice telling you that yes, you actually can do this.
The 'this' that you can do is pointed out pretty plainly by the book's subtitle: 'how to live well without a job and with (almost) no money'. Basically, Dolly's advice can be boiled down to: Do It Yourself instead of paying someone else to do it for you, and only pay someone if it's dirt cheap. First and foremost, Doing it Yourself means producing the food you eat, which Dolly does by gardening and by raising rabbits for slaughter. Her diet is also supplemented by wild caught game, mostly fish and turtles and pigeons, and also by occasionally scavenged food (wild mushrooms and plants, roadkill, produce discarded by the grocery store, etc).
Food-related information makes up the bulk of the book, and it makes sense that it would, since food is one of the basic necessities of life. Another basic necessity is shelter, and Dolly delves into that primarily by exploring ways to buy property cheap, which pretty much boils down to purchasing a foreclosed property. I'm not sure how informative her information is in this department, though, because POSSUM LIVING was written in 1978, and it's likely that foreclosure procedures have changed.
Incidentally, a lot of what makes this book interesting relates to what you can read between the lines. It reveals little hints and clues about the cultural climate of 1978, and it gives a sense of what daily life is like for Dolly, who quit school in seventh grade and grew up in the care of her eccentric father. These elements become even more profound with the inclusion of an afterword by the author, written for this re-release of POSSUM LIVING, thirty years after the book first hit the shelves. A lot of people who read the first book grew very curious about Dolly's later life. Now their curiosity can be satisfied (though frankly I found Dolly's current place in life to be a bit of a letdown, considering where she was while writing the first edition).
This book is a great example of all that. Really, Dolly Freed doesn't give much information that you couldn't come up with yourself, and what she does teach are the sorts of things you really need practice doing to actually learn. But the book is great because it serves as a voice telling you that yes, you actually can do this.
The 'this' that you can do is pointed out pretty plainly by the book's subtitle: 'how to live well without a job and with (almost) no money'. Basically, Dolly's advice can be boiled down to: Do It Yourself instead of paying someone else to do it for you, and only pay someone if it's dirt cheap. First and foremost, Doing it Yourself means producing the food you eat, which Dolly does by gardening and by raising rabbits for slaughter. Her diet is also supplemented by wild caught game, mostly fish and turtles and pigeons, and also by occasionally scavenged food (wild mushrooms and plants, roadkill, produce discarded by the grocery store, etc).
Food-related information makes up the bulk of the book, and it makes sense that it would, since food is one of the basic necessities of life. Another basic necessity is shelter, and Dolly delves into that primarily by exploring ways to buy property cheap, which pretty much boils down to purchasing a foreclosed property. I'm not sure how informative her information is in this department, though, because POSSUM LIVING was written in 1978, and it's likely that foreclosure procedures have changed.
Incidentally, a lot of what makes this book interesting relates to what you can read between the lines. It reveals little hints and clues about the cultural climate of 1978, and it gives a sense of what daily life is like for Dolly, who quit school in seventh grade and grew up in the care of her eccentric father. These elements become even more profound with the inclusion of an afterword by the author, written for this re-release of POSSUM LIVING, thirty years after the book first hit the shelves. A lot of people who read the first book grew very curious about Dolly's later life. Now their curiosity can be satisfied (though frankly I found Dolly's current place in life to be a bit of a letdown, considering where she was while writing the first edition).
July 30, 2010
This book was mentioned on Jezebel and half the comments alluded to reading and loving it. I had never heard of it, but later the day happened to walk past the reissued addition on the new self at CHN and figured why not, kismet and all.
For a book written in 1978, it lines up surprisingly well with 2010. The book's based on solid bones. Base ideas include: gardening, using the library for free research, learning by doing, only buying what you need & avoiding consumerism, eating healthy foods, and rejecting what other people think/do IF it doesn't fit you. I appreciate that this came not out of a hippie/commune/free love lifestyle, but because he father was tired of working for that man.
What Dolly wants most, I believe, is for her readers to examine what they want, what they need, and then figure out the best way to achieve it. Her father didn't want to work in a factory and she didn't want traditional schooling. They were fine working hard---you can't call people with a garden that size, raising that many rabbits in the basement, drastically renovating a house, etc lazy-- as long as they got to decide what, when, and how.
That said, it is an extreme method to their madness.
It's clearly written by someone 17. Much of her philosophy stems from her father's views; note the constant presence of "my dad says." Towards the end, she gets a bit crackpot in her ideas. Consider her father's solution to people who bother you, the thoughts on dentistry (you don't need it because my father's cavity-ridden tooth hurts less than one that had the root canal), running is all the health care you need, taxes are wrong so lie, the general belief "The Man" is out to get you, etc, etc.
The book certainly gave me much to think about, so much that I should probably bump it up to 4 stars. What she's getting at is true: You don't have to do what other people do. Money isn't happiness. Work hard and you'll find not just a solution, but find one you can live with.
*If you read this, please read the 2010 version with the afterward by Dolly. You learn where she and her father ended up, her thoughts on her younger self, what her book means today, and so on. It's an extremely valuable part of the book; I can't recommend the book without it.
For a book written in 1978, it lines up surprisingly well with 2010. The book's based on solid bones. Base ideas include: gardening, using the library for free research, learning by doing, only buying what you need & avoiding consumerism, eating healthy foods, and rejecting what other people think/do IF it doesn't fit you. I appreciate that this came not out of a hippie/commune/free love lifestyle, but because he father was tired of working for that man.
What Dolly wants most, I believe, is for her readers to examine what they want, what they need, and then figure out the best way to achieve it. Her father didn't want to work in a factory and she didn't want traditional schooling. They were fine working hard---you can't call people with a garden that size, raising that many rabbits in the basement, drastically renovating a house, etc lazy-- as long as they got to decide what, when, and how.
That said, it is an extreme method to their madness.
It's clearly written by someone 17. Much of her philosophy stems from her father's views; note the constant presence of "my dad says." Towards the end, she gets a bit crackpot in her ideas. Consider her father's solution to people who bother you, the thoughts on dentistry (you don't need it because my father's cavity-ridden tooth hurts less than one that had the root canal), running is all the health care you need, taxes are wrong so lie, the general belief "The Man" is out to get you, etc, etc.
The book certainly gave me much to think about, so much that I should probably bump it up to 4 stars. What she's getting at is true: You don't have to do what other people do. Money isn't happiness. Work hard and you'll find not just a solution, but find one you can live with.
*If you read this, please read the 2010 version with the afterward by Dolly. You learn where she and her father ended up, her thoughts on her younger self, what her book means today, and so on. It's an extremely valuable part of the book; I can't recommend the book without it.
January 23, 2018
I picked this up while browsing the shelves at Barnes and Noble recently. I had heard of the book before, but was curious to see if the advice given still holds up. Remarkably, much of it does; I don't agree with the pseudonymous Dolly Freed on everything but most of the advice in the book is sound and entertainingly written.
For those of you unfamiliar with Possum Living, it was written back in the 1970s as a how-to guide to leave the rat race and live on a thousand bucks a year or less. The author is a late teens-early 20s young woman who lives with her divorced father outside of Philadelphia. They found their house as a foreclosed storefront with an upstairs apartment; they spent a couple of years fixing it up. Their diet consists of what they grow, raise, or forage and their leisure time is filled with reading, badminton, running, social calls, and for a week or two in winter when they're bored they'll get temp work to build up their capital until they get tired of it and move on. Dolly and her father have several unconventional practices (raising rabbits and chickens in their basement, making moonshine) but these elements that border on the redneck side of things are balanced out by quotes from Greek philosophers and literature. The book paints an interesting portrait of their lives which the author who wrote the forward to this edition drew upon who based a character in one of his novels after Dolly Freed.
If you have back-to-the-land, homesteading, or Tyler Durden-esque dreams you'll probably enjoy this quick read.
For those of you unfamiliar with Possum Living, it was written back in the 1970s as a how-to guide to leave the rat race and live on a thousand bucks a year or less. The author is a late teens-early 20s young woman who lives with her divorced father outside of Philadelphia. They found their house as a foreclosed storefront with an upstairs apartment; they spent a couple of years fixing it up. Their diet consists of what they grow, raise, or forage and their leisure time is filled with reading, badminton, running, social calls, and for a week or two in winter when they're bored they'll get temp work to build up their capital until they get tired of it and move on. Dolly and her father have several unconventional practices (raising rabbits and chickens in their basement, making moonshine) but these elements that border on the redneck side of things are balanced out by quotes from Greek philosophers and literature. The book paints an interesting portrait of their lives which the author who wrote the forward to this edition drew upon who based a character in one of his novels after Dolly Freed.
If you have back-to-the-land, homesteading, or Tyler Durden-esque dreams you'll probably enjoy this quick read.
May 17, 2010
I tend not to buy books unless I come across something super unusual I can't get at the public library. Enter this from where else, a library book sale for 50 cents.
This book was written in 1976 by 19 year old Dolly Freed. She and her father live on very little money because they don't like to work. To a lesser extent, they also like being off the grid and out of the economic system for personal reasons. The book is not preachy though, it just tells you how to do the things they do. They raise rabbits and vegetables, they own their own home, they sell (and one gets the impression-drink) an amazing amount of moonshine. Dolly touts their way of life, and seems mature beyond her years. The book is also mature beyone it's years in that it seems relevant now with DIY culture. Also, Dolly touts how prepared she is for the apocalypse (there are no religour affiliations mentioned), a fact I love and that makes the book "modern".
So, this is pretty much a good book for tinfoil hat wearers in general, a category I have been known to fall into. I read it in a day, other people might dismiss it as quackery.
And the quackiest parts : were the legal advice gleaned from her father's experience divorcing her mother - it smacked of family issues. Also, I'm not sure how much some of this advice makes sense in 2010 as opposed to 1976. For instance, the information on buying forclosed houses seemed so thoughtful, but I'm not sure how relevant it still is.
This book was written in 1976 by 19 year old Dolly Freed. She and her father live on very little money because they don't like to work. To a lesser extent, they also like being off the grid and out of the economic system for personal reasons. The book is not preachy though, it just tells you how to do the things they do. They raise rabbits and vegetables, they own their own home, they sell (and one gets the impression-drink) an amazing amount of moonshine. Dolly touts their way of life, and seems mature beyond her years. The book is also mature beyone it's years in that it seems relevant now with DIY culture. Also, Dolly touts how prepared she is for the apocalypse (there are no religour affiliations mentioned), a fact I love and that makes the book "modern".
So, this is pretty much a good book for tinfoil hat wearers in general, a category I have been known to fall into. I read it in a day, other people might dismiss it as quackery.
And the quackiest parts : were the legal advice gleaned from her father's experience divorcing her mother - it smacked of family issues. Also, I'm not sure how much some of this advice makes sense in 2010 as opposed to 1976. For instance, the information on buying forclosed houses seemed so thoughtful, but I'm not sure how relevant it still is.
September 16, 2012
I can't believe an eighteen-year-old wrote this book. I thought the book had really good info about survival if you don't have a lot of money. I particularly liked the last ten pages, though. "If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living." I also love the points about TV being a stalking horse and that you should hold on to the good and let go of the bad. And I loved the last page - "I aim to be a good person because it makes me happy; it makes people around me happy ; it makes society work better; and it helps to create the type of society in which I want to live. I am going to die anyway and I want to have lived with honor, grace, happiness, and kind deeds. Ask yourself what you aim to be and what you should be doing. Are you living the life you ought to be living? If yes, then good luck to you. If not, then start taking control of your life. It can be done. It should be done. Do it. You don't have forever."
August 30, 2016
While it's certainly dated in topics like cost of living and law, Possum Living does still offer insight into the minimalist lifestyle. I skipped the section on how to raise and kill rabbits as well as the lengthy details on moonshine, neither of which resonate with any lifestyle I'd ever want to lead. Rather than information and instruction, I found Dolly's attitude and spirit more inspiring (and entertaining) than anything else. I also appreciated the older Dolly's notes in the revised edition to show how her life evolved after the 70s. If nothing, this book'll make you laugh.
3 stars
"As mentioned in a previous chapter, I'm not in the purpose-of-life business. However, I will say this: I firmly believe that anyone leading a natural, healthy, unharassed life will come to find that life is purposeful and good (192)."
"A clue to the right work for you is what you will do for free (213)."
3 stars
"As mentioned in a previous chapter, I'm not in the purpose-of-life business. However, I will say this: I firmly believe that anyone leading a natural, healthy, unharassed life will come to find that life is purposeful and good (192)."
"A clue to the right work for you is what you will do for free (213)."
June 16, 2011
What a delightfully odd little book. It is dated (from the 1970s and examples show it) and extreme (raising rabbits in your basement to kill for meat; making your own moonshine). Still, the main points remain valid: the key to financial freedom is 1)owning, free and clear, a place to live no matter how shabby, and 2) reducing your needs/wants to an absolute minimum. Since these are two of my life goals, I found the account inspiring, if beyond my means. I especially enjoyed the afterward by the author (who wrote this as a teenager) who has gone on to a more conventional adult life.
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